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If a sufficiently large nation state orders the companies involved to deny or override a transaction, is the gossip protocol/blockchain useful at all in denying this? Or is this one of those mechanisms only used for keeping out low level/underfunded attackers?

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The system is governed by an entity in Switzerland that must follow regulations, so such a scenario would not be an attack on the system (and thus not be in scope for consensus). That being said, I don't know much about laws and regulations so that's the extent of my understanding :)

Since one of the major audiences is emerging economies, what happens if one of them goes to war with another? Can one side get their superpower patrons to order Diem to freeze the accounts of the other?

I think that's a problem not just for Diem, but for current banks too. I remember reading about HSBC having to shut down Carrie Lam's accounts due to the US putting her a bunch of other government people in HK on some sanctioned list. I think HSBC actually did not freeze the accounts due to the consequences this would lead to for them and the Chinese market? It's unclear to me what happened and what will be the consequences.

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